CC: Mr. Baudelaire Ndong Ella, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Ms. Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
Mr. Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

We, the members of IFEX, the global network defending and promoting free expression, condemn in the strongest possible terms the frantic clampdown on free expression in Azerbaijan, including a deliberate, abusive strategy to silence IFEX member organisation the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS).

Freedom of expression is at the heart of the escalating repression directed at non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists in the recent months.

On 8 August 2014, the IRFS offices were searched; all of the organisation's material and equipment was seized, and their doors were sealed by the Prosecutor's Office. IRFS leader and prominent human rights defender Emin Huseynov was forced into hiding and is in need of urgent protection. Huseynov faces imminent arrest on bogus charges of abuse of authority, illegal entrepreneurship and tax evasion. Other IRFS staff members have also been subject to interrogations and illegal travel bans. On 9 July, IRFS bank accounts were put under arrest, paralysing the work of Azerbaijan's primary media watchdog organisation.

IRFS' broad freedom of expression approach and its ability to respond rapidly to even the most outrageous actions against press freedom have been the DNA of the organisation's work since its establishment in 2006.

Another active media rights organisation, the Media Rights Institute, has been subject to the same pressure and was forced to close down. On 5 and 8 August 2014, two more prominent human rights defenders, Intigam Aliyev, the chair of the Legal Education Society, and Rasul Jafarov, the chair of the Human Rights Club, were remanded with 3-month pre-trial detentions under the same charges faced by Emin Huseynov. More than 20 critical human rights NGOs are subject to tax inspections, frozen bank accounts, searches and de facto closures.

We notice with deep concern that the freedom of expression situation has been greatly deteriorating in the last few years. Independent media barely exists in Azerbaijan. We witness an increasing number of imprisoned journalists, bloggers and social media activists on bogus charges such as hooliganism, drug possession, weapon possession and tax evasion. Currently, 9 journalists and 2 bloggers are behind bars on what international and local human rights organizations consider to be bogus charges for their criticism:

Other journalists are subject to psychological pressure, harassment and smear campaigns.

A few select media outlets have been subject to heavy financial pressure that paralyses their work. In June 2014, the Russian-language Zerkalo (Mirror) newspaper was forced to stop publishing due to financial pressure. Another independent newspaper, Azadliq, has also been forced to suspend publishing.

Such targeted repression only confirms the growing tendency to silence and eliminate all critical voices in Azerbaijan. This repressive persecution has had a severe ripple effect, compelling a number of well-known activists to flee the country or go into hiding.

We believe it is prime time for UNESCO to place the critical situation of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan at the forefront of its dialogue with the country's government, given its strong commitment to "further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations", as mentioned in Article 1 of the UNESCO Constitution.

We strongly urge UNESCO to take immediate steps to prioritise freedom of expression and press freedom in Azerbaijan, both publicly and privately, and refrain from giving unmerited praise to the country, which blatantly ignores its human rights obligations. Improving the situation, including the immediate release of journalists, human rights defenders and NGO leaders, should be a primary condition for Azerbaijan's effective cooperation with UNESCO. If it remains ignored, UNESCO should stop its cooperation with the Azerbaijani government. Otherwise, UNESCO undermines its own declared values such as freedom of expression, press freedom, independence and pluralism of the media, or democracy, peace and tolerance, recognized by UNESCO as “an essential condition for democracy, development and human dignity”.

Given the extremely grave situation of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, it is pressing to take immediate action, to communicate with the government regarding this sphere and put the following demands forward to the government:

Release all journalists imprisoned in connection with their work immediately and unconditionally

Stop pressures against IRFS and rescind the criminal case opened against the organisation

Put an end to the practice of intimidating journalists

Reconsider media laws and adopt legislation, in line with international standards on defamation, that decriminalises defamation and provides civil remedies that are proportionate to the actual harm caused

Stop applying financial sanctions on newspapers in retaliation for their reporting

The parliament tightened legal restrictions on media freedom, broadening the scope of existing criminal defamation legislation in November and amending martial law in December to expand permissible information controls.

Rasim Aliyev, an independent reporter and acting chair of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), died in August after being severely beaten; it remained unclear at year’s end whether the assailants’ motive was connected to Aliyev’s journalistic work.

The current document is a preliminary version of the groundbreaking review of the implementation of the Council of Europe commitments vis-à-vis fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan. The final version of the report will be launched in October, during fourth session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Pakistan is among the countries that do not properly investigate and prosecute crimes against media professionals. Because of the near absolute level of impunity, most of the people who attack, injure or even murder media journalists in Pakistan remain free.

The report is based on incidents of crimes committed against journalists recorded by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) during the period 2012 to 2016. Most of the incidents of crimes against journalists, particularly killings, reported during this period are related to acts of politically motivated violence.

In the 27 cases of journalists murdered for their work in India since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, there have been no convictions. More than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption. The cases of Jagendra Singh, Umesh Rajput, and Akshay Singh, who died between 2011 and 2015, show how small-town journalists face greater risk in their reporting than those from larger outlets, and how India's culture of impunity is leaving the country's press vulnerable to threats and attacks

Latin America is, by far, the most dangerous region of the world for environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). The lack of effective guarantees of human rights protection in Latin American States has created this dire situation.

Press freedom in the Philippines continued to be under attack from 2014 to 2015. The killing of journalists is continuing, with four journalists killed from May 2014 to May 2015. The trial of the accused masterminds of the Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre and their supposed henchmen is continuing, but with a primary accused was released, while a witness in the same case was killed.

This 96-page report profiles eight “strongmen” linked to police, intelligence, and militia forces responsible for serious abuses in recent years. The report documents emblematic incidents that reflect longstanding patterns of violence for which victims obtained no official redress.

Journalism in South Asia is far from an easy profession, as the 12th annual review of journalism in the region "The Campaign for Justice: Press Freedom in South Asia 2013-14" portrays. But this year's report also tells the story of the courage of South Asia's journalists to defend press freedom and to ensure citizens' right to information and freedom of expression in the face of increasing challenges to the profession and personal safety.

RWB report is being published ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 5 April. It is the fruit of a fact-finding visit to the northern provinces of Parwan, Kapisa and Panjshir in September 2013

IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports. Some member content has been edited by IFEX. We invite you to contact [email protected] to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site.

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